São Paulo – Brazil and Algeria “are on the brink of signing a defense agreement, currently in talks”, said Brazilian chancellor, Mauro Vieira, during press conference in Algiers this Wednesday (28th). The interview was done after the meeting between Vieira and Algeria’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, according to information by news agency Algérie Presse Service (APS).
According to Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), when signed, the agreement should allow the achievement of joint operations between the two countries’ armed forces, exchange of officers, technical cooperation and joint training exercises.
Vieira’s visit to the Arab country was also an opportunity to hold the 1st Session of the Bilateral Mechanism of Strategic Dialogue, event created during the 4th Session of the Joint Bilateral Commission, which occurred in Brasília in July 2010. The Brazilian minister was welcomed also by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and prime-minister Abdelmalek Sellal.
According to Itamaraty, in the meeting with Lamamra, several topics, such as development of the exchange and bilateral cooperation in the energy, healthcare, trade, public works, agriculture, social development, scientific research and university cooperation sectors were discussed.
The cooperation in the energy sector was the highlight in the talks between the two ministers, since the oil price decline is impacting significantly revenues of the two producing countries. “[They]underlined the importance of the oil market stability in the preservation of the interests of producing and consuming countries”, said the Itamaraty in a statement.
Vieira and Lamamra also “reaffirmed the need to continue with the international efforts against terrorism and underlined the crucial role of regional and international cooperation in this context, especially in the strategy of the United Nations in fighting and prevention against this transnational scourge”, emphasized Itamaraty’s statement.
Also covered were topics such as Iran’s nuclear program, Libya’s situation, the next United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the diplomatic reconciliation between the United States and Cuba, and the next edition of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries, scheduled for November 10th and 11th in Saudi Arabia, and the Palestine issue.
In the press conference, according to APS, Vieira talked about trade relations between the two countries and said that there are “huge” possibilities in the investments sector, pointing out that Algeria ranks second among Brazilian partners in Africa. “We will work together for it to become our number one trade partner”, said the Brazilian chancellor.
Vieira reminded that Brazil is organizing a trade mission to Algeria next month.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
